Social Welfare Law Commons^™

Keep Charitable Oversight In The Irs, Philip Hackney

Articles

Critics are increasingly calling for Congress to remove charity regulation from the IRS. The critics are wrong. Congress should maintain charity regulation in the IRS. What is at stake is balancing power between the state, charity as civil society, and the economic order. In a well-balanced democracy, civil society maintains its independence from the state and the economic order. Removing charitable jurisdiction from the IRS would blind the IRS to dollars placed in the charitable sector increasing tax and political shelters and wealthy dominance of charities as civil society. A new agency without understanding of, or jurisdiction over, tax cannot …

Written Testimony Of Philip Hackney For The Hearing On Growth Of The Tax-Exempt Sector And The Impact On The American Political Landscape (U.S. House Ways & Means Subcommittee On Oversight, December 13, 2023), Philip Hackney

Testimony

In written testimony before the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Oversight on December 13, 2023, Professor Hackney emphasized three points about tax-exempt organizations and politics: (1) a diverse nonprofit sector that fosters civic participation and engagement is a gem of the United States -- we should maintain that; (2) the IRS budget for Exempt Organizations continues to NOT be sufficient to ensure the laws are equally and fairly enforced; and (3) there are simple things the IRS could do to enforce the law that it is not doing.

Contextual Determinants Of Re-Reporting For Families Receiving Alternative Response: A Survival Analysis In A Midwestern State, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke, Toby Burnham

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Differential response (DR) has been widely adopted in over 30 states to address shortcomings of the traditional approach to child maltreatment reports in complex family and case circumstances. However, despite continued evaluation efforts, evidence of the effectiveness of DR remains inconclusive. The current study aims to assess the impact of a DR program and potential predictors, including service match and number of family case workers, on maltreatment re-reports in a Midwestern state. The study utilized a randomized control trial and assigned eligible families to either the Alternative Response (AR) track or Traditional Response (TR) track. The enrollment was implemented in …

Does Electoral Proximity Influence Commitment To International Human Rights Law?, Nolan Ragland

Baker Scholar Projects

The core international human rights treaties from the United Nations have been signed and ratified by varying groups of states, and much of previous research has been dominated by a desire to explain ratification of international human rights law (IHRL) through the democratic lock-in effect and states’ economic and political ties to one another. In this paper, I seek to understand when states are ratifying IHRL, testing whether the presence of elections influences commitment to three of the nine core international human rights treaties: the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of …

The Aftermath Of Dobbs: How The Criminalization Of Abortion Has Obstructed The Exercise Of Bodily Autonomy, Sonia Bakshi

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

This Blog addresses the topic of bodily autonomy in relation to the criminalization of abortion because everyone should be entitled to the right to make their own choices, especially when it comes to their bodies, and even greater, their selves as a whole. With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, the ability to exercise bodily autonomy has never been more obstructed. The Supreme Court has left the nation with the impression that they do not believe women are capable of making decisions about their own bodies or their own futures. Now, it’s important to look into what the ripple …

Serving A Country That Will Not Accommodate Our Religion: The Sikh American Struggle To Choose Between Career Or Faith, Tanveer Moundi

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, with approximately thirty million followers of the faith worldwide. It is a monotheistic faith that teaches honesty, compassion, humility, universal equity, and respect for all religions. Since the 1984 genocide of Sikhs in India, many followers of the faith have immigrated to Western countries in hopes of “the American dream” and the prospect of freely practicing their faith. But as a devastating response to the tragedy of 9/11, members of the Sikh community living in the United States have become victims of hate crimes, workplace discrimination, school bullying, and …

The Psychology Of Science Denialism And Lessons For Public Health Authorities, Brenna Moreno, Molly J. Walker Wilson

All Faculty Scholarship

As it wreaked tragedy on the world, the outbreak of COVID-19 helped expose a pandemic of a different kind, one steeped in distrust and contrarianism. This movement, termed science denialism, has been lurking and undermining public health efforts for decades. Specifically, it is “the employment of rhetorical arguments to give the appearance of legitimate debate where there is none, an approach that has the ultimate goal of rejecting a proposition on which a scientific consensus exists.” Unlike skepticism, which is “doubt as to the truth of something” and works to progress both science and society, denialism is characterized by individuals’ …

Transforming Minnesota's Early Care And Education Infrastructure, Nicole Frethem

Student Scholarship

In 2021, the Minnesota legislature authorized the Great Start for All task force to present recommendations for how the state can provide “access to affordable, high-quality early care and education that enriches, nurtures, and supports children and their families,” to “all families” in Minnesota.

The early care and education landscape in Minnesota has experienced dramatic changes in programming and investments over the last twenty years. In the early 2000s, the state’s primary child care subsidy program, the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), was moved from the Department of Children, Families and Learning to the Department of Human Services in an …

Written Testimony Of Philip Hackney For The Hearing On Laws And Enforcement Governing The Political Activities Of Tax-Exempt Entities (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee On Taxation And Irs Oversight, May 4, 2022), Philip Hackney

Testimony

Are tax laws and IRS enforcement up to the task of overseeing the tax issues associated with the political activities of tax-exempt organizations? Though the tax laws governing the tax-exempt realm are wanting, our overall legal structure is not bad. It is justifiable at least. Where we fall down as a nation in this space is in the enforcement. We do not allocate enough resources to this arena, and we do not institutionally offer the support necessary to enforce these laws. These failures do not favor one party over the other but favor those interests in the country with the …

Is Using Preferred Gender Pronouns Important In The Courtroom?, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

In relation to the Farmer v. Brennan, a case discussed in this blog, it is important to note that triggering language is used in the opinion, as the incorrect pronouns are used to refer to the petitioner throughout.

The use of proper gender pronouns is important to nearly every person in the world. In all cases, proper and preferred gender pronouns are the same. It is respectful and expected to use a person’s preferred pronouns e.g., the proper term for the person. Whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not, the use of proper gender pronouns is only …

Wrongfully Charged, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

On January 10, 2020, a San Francisco Superior Court judge, at the request of a San Francisco Police officer, issued an arrest warrant in connection with a residential burglary. Mot. Suppress Evid. Off’d Against Def. Prelim. Hr’g, 6:1-2. The warrant listed suspects to be arrested and described a residence in Oakland that was to be searched. Id. at 3:5-13. The San Francisco Police Department sent a special operations unit to execute the warrant. Id. at 10:13-22. When the officers arrived at the house, they found the suspect as well as other individuals in the house.

One of those individuals was …

Mandatory Minimums Require A Much-Needed Facelift, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

Hamedah Hassan was an overall upstanding member of our society until she became a victim of her extenuating circumstances. When Hamedah was 21 years old, she made a brave choice to flee from an extremely abusive relationship with her two children. At the time, Hamedah’s only option was to seek refuge at her cousin’s house. However, Hamedah’s cousin was dealing crack cocaine and soon roped her into running errands for his drug business. After two years of being involved in the drug business, Hamedah decided to return to her hometown as she wanted to earn an honest living for herself …

Why Aim Law Toward Human Survival, John William Draper

Librarian Scholarship at Penn Law

Our legal system is contributing to humanity’s demise by failing to take account of our species’ situation. For example, in some cases law works against life and supports interests such as liberty or profit maximization.

If we do not act, science tells us that humanity bears a significant (and growing) risk of catastrophic failure. The significant risk inherent in the status quo is unacceptable and requires a response. We must act. It is getting hotter. When we decide to act, we need to make the right choice.

There is no better choice. You and all your relatives have rights. The …

Changing Every Wrong Door Into The Right One: Reforming Legal Services Intake To Empower Clients, Jabeen Adawi

Articles

It’s recognized that people affected by poverty often have numerous overlapping legal needs and despite the proliferation of legal services, they are unable to receive full assistance. When a person is faced with a legal emergency, rarely is there an equivalent to a hospital’s emergency room wherein they receive an immediate diagnosis for their needs and subsequent assistance. In this paper, I focus on the process a person goes through to find assistance and argue that it is a burdensome, and demoralizing task of navigating varying protocols, procedures, and individuals. While these systems are well intentioned from the lawyer’s perspective, …

A Seat At The Table: Why You Deserve It, But Your Brain Might Be Telling You Otherwise, Jonathan Ibarra Paz

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

“Are you frequently worried about making mistakes and frustrated because your work is not perfect? Do you suspect you will never be smart enough or good enough no matter how successful you already are? Do you often attribute your success to luck, chance, or anything else except your own talent and hard work?” If you answered yes to any of these questions, it could indicate that you suffer from imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome can be described as, an internal experience of intellectual phoniness… result[ing] in people feeling like they lack the skills, knowledge, and/or competence to do their jobs despite …

Social Equity: Will The Cannabis Industry Choose To Overcome Its Lack Of Diversity?, Dana Oviedo

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

In the world of legal cannabis, a new phrase has taken over: Social Equity. What does this really mean? Social Equity in the cannabis industry is an attempt to level the playing field for individuals who were negatively impacted by the prohibition of cannabis.

Long before the re-legalization of cannabis began to spread across the United States, Black and Brown folks were and continue to be disproportionately arrested and locked up for cannabis related offenses. Those most impacted by the War on Drugs have historically been Black and Brown individuals from low-income communities. Militarized policing targeted to these low-income communities …

Nowhere To Run To, Nowhere To Hide, Praveen Kosuri, Lynnise Pantin

All Faculty Scholarship

As the COVID-19 global pandemic ravaged the United States, exacerbating the country’s existing racial disparities, Black and brown small business owners navigated unprecedented obstacles to stay afloat. Adding even more hardship and challenges, the United States also engaged in a nationwide racial reckoning in the wake of the murder of George Floyd resulting in wide-scale protests in the same neighborhoods that initially saw a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 and harming many of the same Black and brown business owners. These business owners had to operate in an environment in which they experienced recurring trauma, mental anguish and uncertainty, along with …

Constitution-Free Zones: How The Fourth Amendment Rights Of Americans Are Violated At And Near The Border, Camila Valdivieso

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const. amend. XIV. Border Patrol continues to abuse their authority to this day.

Pray The Gay Away: Conversion Therapy, Suicide, Religion, And The First Amendment, Eric Cody Bass

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

In the United States, gay conversion therapy (GCT) has not been banned nationally, although twenty states have issued laws banning therapists from practicing it. While the Supreme Court has refused to hear several cases involving challenges to laws banning GCT, recently the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found a local law banning the practice as an unconstitutional regulation on the First Amendment right of speech. This ruling disappointingly confuses ideas of First Amendment protections with what amounts to psychological torture of our youth. It must be noted that while bans on GCT have been successfully upheld as constitutional in other …

Input To Sr On Contemporary Forms Of Slavery, Including Its Causes And Consequences Regarding The Role Of Organized Criminal Groups, Peggy Frazier, Katherine Kaufka Walts Jd

Center for the Human Rights of Children

The Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC), in collaboration with signatory organizations, submits this input in response to the call for submissions made by the Special Rapporteur’s Report on the Role of Organized Criminal Groups with regard to Contemporary Forms of Slavery to inform the forthcoming report to the 76th session of the General Assembly. This input will focus upon the role of organized criminal groups with regard to child labor trafficking (forced labor), and specifically, forced criminality as a form of forced labor.1 We provide input on cases both in the interior of the United States, and …

More Than A Hashtag: Why We Need To #Protectblackwomen In Real Life, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

This piece will address the ways in which Black women continue to be disrespected, unprotected, and neglected, both publicly—as a result of systemic racism and police brutality—as well as privately—as a result of the legal system’s failure to appropriately address domestic violence committed against them.

Why We Should Provide More Support For Women Of Color In Academia, Silvia Chairez-Perez

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

My experience as a woman of color in higher education is not unique. In this piece, I will share my own story and discuss challenges women of color face to succeed in academia and how their absence in these spaces negatively affects the success of female students of color. Additionally, I will describe methods institutions of higher learning can implement to hire more women of color and how having women of color teachers has impacted my educational journey.

What “Good” Has Come From The “Good Faith” Exception?, Yasamin Elahi-Shirazi

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

The FourthAmendment protects the right of the people—us—against unreasonable searches, seizures, and warrantless conduct by government actors—police officers. The Supreme Court has added safeguards to this amendment, with the seminal cases of U.S. v. Weeks and Mapp v. Ohio. The Court created the exclusionary rule, which excludes evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment from criminal trials. Initially designed as a multifaceted legal mechanism to uphold judicial integrity, deter police misconduct, and serve as a remedy for those who are victims of constitutional violations. The deterrent value was meant to help protect the public at large—especially …

Re: Center For The Human Rights Of Children’S Input For The 2021 Trafficking In Persons Report, Katherine Kaufka Walts Jd

Center for the Human Rights of Children

No abstract provided.

Founding Managing Editor’S Welcome Message, Tiffany Avila

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

It is with great privilege and honor to introduce you to the GGU Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice Law Journal. This project started when my colleague, dearest friend and founding Editor-in-Chief, Silvia Chairez-Perez, approached me during our internship with the California Supreme Court Capital Central Staff. We were discussing how far we have come with the resources presented to us, and our motivation to provide a better pathway to underrepresented law students.

Founding Editor-In-Chief’S Welcome Message, Silvia Chairez-Perez

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

Welcome! Thank you for visiting Golden Gate University’s Journal of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice website. The Journal strives to provide race, gender, sexuality, and social justice practitioners, students, judges, and academics a platform to share their thought leadership via a born-digital format. We endeavor to publish legal scholarship of the highest quality.

Founding Journal Advisor’S Welcome Message, Jyoti Nanda

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

IMPORT OF THE RACE, GENDER, SEXUALITY, & SOCIAL JUSTICE LAW JOURNAL IN 2021

The launch of the Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal is no small feat and I applaud our student leaders for their fortitude in the middle of a year unlike any other. In 2020, our country underwent a national reckoning on race trigged by the unlawful death by police of several unarmed African American women and men while grappling with a global pandemic that halted life as we knew it. Our GGU law students, like all students everywhere, persevered – shifting to remote learning and …

Interim Law Dean’S Welcome Message, Eric C. Christiansen

Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality, & Social Justice Law Journal. There has never been a more appropriate or important time to inaugurate a journal dedicated to the law’s capacity to advance social justice than right now. And there is no better institution to inaugurate this new journal than Golden Gate University School of Law. Thank you to all our readers—now and in the years to come—who will help us move the values, principles, and ideas in this journal into communities and courtrooms in pursuit of equality and true justice.

“Born Under My Heart”: Adoptive Parents’ Use Of Metaphors To Make Sense Of Their Past, Present, And Future, Lucas Hackenburg, Toni Morgan, Eve Brank

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Metaphors provide the opportunity to make sense of our experiences and share them with others. The current research qualitatively examined interviews with adoptive parents who had adopted through intercountry or private adoptions. Throughout their interviews, each participant used at least one metaphor in describing their experiences of adopting and raising their child. Overarchingly, the metaphor of “Adoption is a journey” encapsulated parents’ experiences. To demonstrate the journey, parents used metaphors to describe the past, present, and future. Metaphors of the past focused on their child’s trauma and the origin of how the child came to join their family. Metaphors used …

The Irony Of Health Care’S Public Option, Allison K. Hoffman

All Faculty Scholarship

The idea of a public health insurance option is at least a half century old, but has not yet had its day in the limelight. This chapter explains why if that moment ever comes, health care’s public option will fall short of expectations that it will provide a differentiated, meaningful alternative to private health insurance and will spur health insurance competition.

Health care’s public option bubbled up in its best-known form in California in the early 2000s and got increasing mainstream attention in the lead up to the 2010 health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The …